Kiosk maintenance: a daily, weekly and monthly care plan

Wipe the screen and card reader every day with the cleaner your kiosk's maker names, sprayed on a cloth first. Check the card reader for tampering before each shift. Keep spare receipt paper at hand, run updates after close, and write every check in a log so a warranty claim has a record behind it.

This guide covers upkeep once the kiosk is running. For what staff do when a guest gets stuck, see kiosk staff help. For choosing a kiosk, see the kiosk buyer's guide.

What do kiosk makers say about cleaning?

All four makers below clean with a cloth or wipe and ask you to keep moisture out of openings. The cleaners they name differ.

Maker	Cleaner it names	What it warns against
Toast	70% isopropyl alcohol on a microfiber cloth; wipe the whole device, back included, and let it air dry	Alcohol above 70 percent, methyl or ethyl alcohol, ammonia, abrasives, 409 cleaner
Clover	Water first, then 70% to 90% isopropyl alcohol on a soft, lint-free cloth, with the device off and unplugged	Liquid near seams, buttons and card areas (use a dry cloth there), abrasive cleaners, solvents
Elo (I-Series 4.0 manual)	Wet wipes or a damp cloth with the excess squeezed out; power down first if you can	Alcohol above 70%, undiluted bleach, ammonia
Apple (the iPad inside Square Kiosk)	A 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe, a 75 percent ethyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes	Bleach, hydrogen peroxide, moisture in any opening

Sources: Toast's device cleaning guide, Clover's cleaning guide, Elo's I-Series 4.0 user manual and Apple's cleaning guide.

If you run hardware from more than one maker, 70% isopropyl alcohol fits all four instructions above. Toast's own recipe for a home mix, 3/4 cup of 91% alcohol with 1/4 cup of water, works out to about 68%. Check your exact model, though: Elo's EloPOS manual says to clean the touchscreen with window or glass cleaner and not to use alcohol at all.

Clover asks for touched surfaces to be cleaned at least once a day. Elo suggests powering down or making sure the software can take false touches while you wipe, so clean before opening or after close.

How do you check a card reader for tampering?

A kiosk's card reader sits in the open, often out of a cashier's sight. The PCI Security Standards Council's skimming prevention guide for merchants (September 2014) tells merchants to keep a list of all devices and to inspect them on a set routine, which "could be once a day or at the beginning of each shift." It also says to photograph each terminal front and back, labels and serial numbers included, and to compare new photos with old ones. It warns against unannounced service visits or upgrades you have not checked with your provider.

Clover's tamper help page lists signs to look for. A short version for the opening check:

1. The reader is in its usual place and the serial number matches your photo.
2. No cuts, broken seals, peeling labels or new scratches, most of all around the seams.
3. No overlay or loose wire in or near the chip slot or PIN area.
4. The same number of cables, in the same colors, as last time.
5. A card goes in and out with the usual feel.

Clover devices also detect some tampering on their own. When that happens, PIN payments stop and the owner or an admin requests a replacement. Clover says a replacement is free within the warranty period, though shipping and handling fees may apply. If you find something wrong on any system, stop taking cards on that kiosk, send guests to the register and call your processor.

How do you keep the receipt printer running?

First find out where your kiosk prints. Clover Kiosk ships with a receipt paper roll in the box, per Clover's kiosk setup guide. Square's kiosk setup guide says the Square Kiosk app cannot connect to receipt printers directly; kiosk tickets print through the printers on your counter devices, so that is the printer to look after.

Toast's TP200 printer guide is a good model for any thermal printer:

• Paper: the TP200 takes 80 mm thermal paper (3 1/8" × 230'). Toast does not sell paper. To test a roll, scratch the print side with a fingernail: thermal paper leaves a black mark.
• Jams: if paper stops or will not exit, open the cover, replace an empty roll, clear debris from the cutter and print head, and re-seat the paper.
• Faded print: clean the print head and the rubber platen roller with a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol.
• First fix for most faults: unplug power and Ethernet, wait 30 seconds, plug back in and print again.

When should software updates happen?

After close, or at a quiet hour. Square's kiosk troubleshooting guide asks you to troubleshoot after hours if possible, and to avoid peak hours if you must do it during the day. It lists updating the point-of-sale app, signing out and back in, and restarting the hardware. To restart from the kiosk, hold two fingers on the screen, then tap Hardware, Connect and manage, and Restart.

Updates also end. Toast's Product Lifetime Policy says Toast supports its products for three years after the hardware warranty ends, with support that may include automatic software, firmware and security updates. After that a device may stop getting them. Write the end date in your log.

What do the warranties cover, as printed?

Vendor	Warranty term	Conditions worth knowing
Square Kiosk hardware	One-year warranty, per the Square Kiosk page	The iPad is bought separately
Toast (US)	12 months from shipment for handheld devices, 24 months for other Toast products	Excludes abuse, accident and installation not done by a Toast representative; return the faulty unit within 30 days of an advance replacement shipping, or pay for the replacement plus shipping
Clover (bought hardware)	A limited warranty covering manufacturer defects for one year, per Clover's pricing FAQ	Subscriptions include Clover's Equipment Protection Program instead
Elo	Three years for Windows I-Series; two years for Android I-Series	Tell Elo in writing within 30 days of finding a fault; you ship it at your own cost; liquid intrusion is excluded

Sources: Toast's US limited hardware warranty, Clover's pricing FAQ and Elo's warranty page. For how a Clover subscription's cover differs from buying, see leasing vs buying a kiosk.

Elo's liquid clause is one more reason to spray the cloth first.

What should you keep in the spares box?

• Two or more rolls of the right paper for each printer.
• Card reader cleaning cards, which Toast names for cleaning inside a reader.
• Microfiber cloths and the cleaner your maker names.
• A spare power cord and Ethernet cable for each kiosk.
• The original boxes. Elo asks for returns in the original carton or an equal one, Toast in proper packaging, and Clover sends a tampered unit back in the replacement's box.
• A printed copy of each serial number, warranty end date and support phone number.

What goes on the daily, weekly and monthly list?

When	Task
Before opening	Tamper check on each card reader; start a test order to see the menu load, then cancel it; paper check
After close	Wipe screen, reader and stand with the maker's cleaner; log any fault from the day
Weekly	Install pending updates and restart; clean print heads if receipts look faded; count spare paper
Monthly	Compare each reader with its photos; check stand bolts and cables; test the outage plan; review the log and warranty dates

For the outage test, see kiosk payments and cash, which covers what each POS kiosk does offline.

What should the log sheet record?

Keep one sheet per kiosk by the register, or one shared sheet with a kiosk column.

Date and time	Kiosk and serial	Task or fault	What you found	Action taken	Initials

The PCI guide suggests rotating the person who does device checks, so the same initials should not fill every row. Log downtime minutes too; the kiosk pilot checklist uses them as a pass rule.

Maple's voice ordering kiosk is in early access with a small number of restaurants. Maple supplies the kiosk, every screen has a staff-help button, and the restaurant can turn Maple off on any kiosk with one tap. Ask Maple's team for the cleaning and repair steps for the unit it supplies, and add them to your log.

Published by Maple, which sells an early-access voice ordering kiosk. This AI-assisted guide combines Toast, Clover, Square, Elo and Apple care, printer and warranty pages and the PCI Security Standards Council's skimming guide with an original checklist and log sheet. It does not report a Maple test of any kiosk or give security or legal advice.